Connecticut State Department of Education BACK TO SCHOOL MEETING Special Education Administrators

1. Connecticut State Department of EducationBACK TO SCHOOL MEETING Special Education Administrators September 14, 2005 Susan Kennedy, CSDE Jerry Spears, Consultant

2. Section 602(3) of IDEA requires states to develop alternate assessments that are: • Aligned with the states academic content standards; • Promote access to the general curriculum; and • Reflect professional judgment of the highest achievement standards possible

3. CMT/CAPT Skills ChecklistThird Edition, 2005 • Originally developed for initial administration in 2000 in response to 1997 reauthorization of IDEA • “Aligned” with general education curriculum • New guidance from the USDE issued in December 2003.

4. IDEA and NCLB • Both acts reflect the vision that is being promoted: • High expectations • Uniform standards • Public accountability for schools

5. Historical viewpoint Early 70’s • Adapting infant/early childhood curriculum for students with significant disabilities of all ages 1980’s • Rejected “developmental model” • Functional life skills curriculum emerged 1990’s • Also: social inclusion focus • Also: self determination focus 2000 • General curriculum access (academic content) • Plus earlier priorities (functional, social, self-determination)

6. Purpose of the Skills Checklist • The purpose of the CMT/CAPT Skills Checklist is to provide an accountability measure to determine the extent to which students with significant cognitive impairments have been given the opportunity to participate in and benefit from the general education curriculum.

7. CMT/CAPT SKILLS CHECKLIST THIRD EDITION

8. STRUCTURE OF THE REVISED TEST • Features: 7 tests: one for each grade 3 to 8 and 10 • Each test has three sections: • Section I: Access skills – Same at every grade • Section II: Grade Level Academic Skills -Language Arts • Section III: Grade Level Academic Skills - Mathematics

9. Section I: Access Skills • Total of 50 items from the previous Checklist were retained • Assess Skills: • Receptive Communication (14); • Expressive Communication (11); • Social Interactive Communication (11); • Basic Literacy (8); and • Spatial Relationships (6)

10. Section I: Access Skills Those communication, quantitative and pre-academic skills that students with our disabilities typically develop prior to school entry, such as: • Attends to or behaviorally demonstrates awareness of sounds and/or visual events produced within student’s auditory/visual range (For blind students, “responds to tactile stimuli • Responds appropriately to differences in tone of voice (for example, inhibits behavior or becomes upset in response to angry or sharp tone; maintains or increases behavior in response to happy or playful tone of voice, etc.) • Recognizes and responds to own name, when this is spoken in an authentic context (for example, alerts, orients to speaker, raises hand, etc.)

11. Sections II & III Grade Level Academics

12. TEST FORMAT

13. Sections II & III: Grade Level Academic Skills Cont’ • Each indicator in Sections II & III: Grade Level Academic Skills corresponds to a specific Content standard (objective) that is found in the Connecticut curriculum frameworks. • However, each indicator is a “downward extension” of the grade level skill

14. Algebraic Reasoning Grade 3 Downward Extensions A. Patterns that are made with different objects and symbols and that follow the same rule may be classified together. 1. Use a variety of materials to construct, reproduce, describe and extend number and spatial patterns. Essence: Demonstrate an understanding of patterns AR 3-1   - Continue a pattern with elements missing (A,B,A,B,A,___) - Reproduce an AB pattern with numbers, symbols or objects - Identify an AB pattern with numbers, symbols or objects

15. Reading and Responding Grade 3Downward Extensions • Students use appropriate strategies before, during and after reading in order to construct meaning. 1. Activate prior knowledge, establish purposes for reading and adjust the purposes while reading. Essence: Indicate what is already known about the text, determine reason for reading it and be able to adjust accordingly.  - Determine if initial prediction about grade level text is correct and, if not, make a new prediction - Predict what might happen in the grade level text based on pre- reading activities (e.g., review of captions, table of contents, book jacket, etc.) - Indicate what is known about the grade level text based on text features (e.g., captions, table of contents, book jacket, etc.)

16. RATING STUDENT PERFORMANCE • Students are rated using a three point scale: • Does not demonstrate skill • Developing / Supported • Mastered / Independent • When selecting a particular rating for the student’s performance, the rating is based on: • Consistency of performance over time • Whether or not prompts are required to complete the task

17. Rating Scale • Does not demonstrate skill: Use this response for skills that the student does not demonstrate in any setting. • Developing / Supported: Use this response for skills the student displays only with some level of prompt support, i.e., a verbal cue, partial physical guidance, repetition of instructions, etc. You should also use this response for skills that are displayed inconsistently. If a student can demonstrate a skill occasionally, but not consistently and at different times then the skills should be rated Developing / Supported.

18. Mastered / Independent:Use this response for skills that the student clearly has mastered and performs independently. To be rated as Mastered / Independent the student must demonstrate the skill consistently over time. The student does not have to demonstrate the skill every time, but over the course of the year would have to show that s/he has mastered it, (e.g., the student successfully performed a skill 80% or more of the time without prompt support such as verbal cues, partial physical guidance, etc.). Again, if the student continues to require prompt support to exhibit this skill do not rate the skill as Mastered / Independent.

19. Who Administers the Checklist • Should be completed by the student’s primary special education teacher in collaboration with other team members, including: General education teacher(s) Other professionals, i.e., - OT - PT - SLP, etc.

20. When is the Checklist completed? The CMT/CAPT Skills Checklist is NOT a secure document. It is a working document that was designed to be used by teachers throughout the school year to: • Plan instruction • Monitor student progress and growth, and • Document achievement

21. When is the Checklist completed? con’t. • The checklist is part of the statewide testing program and scannable, scorable documents must be ordered from and returned to the test contractor. • Information from the “working” document needs to be transcribed onto a scannable document during the test window in March of each school year.

22. How are Scores Reported • An individual Student Report will include raw scores for the Access Skills and the Grade Level Academic Skills items • Content Strand level raw scores will be reported (for example, geometry and measurement, numerical & proportional reasoning, etc). No performance level information ( basic, proficient, advanced) will be reported at the strand level.

23. Reporting, Con’t • Total Raw scores and performance levels (i.e., basic, proficient and advanced) will be reported for each of the academic domains: reading, writing and mathematics (and Science beginning in March 2008). • Only scores from the grade level academic skills will be used in the calculation of AYP, because to satisfy NCLB the assessment must be based on “grade level” content.

24. Checklist Training • One day of training will be provided at each RESC beginning October 14, 2005 • Two teams from each district: high school team and elementary/middle school team • One team from each approved special education facility and RESC • Trainer of trainers model • Directors will be asked to attest to the fact that training was conducted, i.e., dates, times, and participants.

25. Training, con’t • Video recordings of students completing tasks on the Checklist will be used for this statewide training. Copies of the videos will be available for district training. • Follow-up training: Certified Raters Training will be offered annually.

26. Alternate Assessment Advisory Committee Members

27. CMT/CAPT Skills Checklist Development Participants